Land sales and disposals

This fact sheet is aimed primarily at people who have concerns that the council did not follow the correct procedures when disposing of some land and may be considering making a complaint to the Ombudsman.

I am unhappy about the council’s decision to sell or dispose of land or buildings; or about the way it went about such a sale or disposal. Can the Ombudsman help me?

Yes, in some circumstances. Councils have the right to dispose of their assets (such as land or buildings), and they have  wide discretion to do this in any manner they wish. Generally, they must obtain the best price they can for those assets. 

The Ombudsman cannot question councils’ legal rights to sell or otherwise dispose of land, or question the merits of their decisions about whether and how to do it. We can investigate complaints about administrative fault in the decision-making process. 

But cannot deal with a complaint that affects all or most people living within the Council’s area. By “most”, we mean the majority of people living in the area. Likewise, we would not usually investigate complaints that a council has been ‘wasting public money’ or ‘could have obtained a higher price’. This is because the person complaining needs to show he or she has been personally affected by the matter. 

How do I complain?

The council’s policy should say how long it will take to respond. Our Complaint Handling Code says councils should have no more than two stages in a complaint process. The longest a complaint should take is 16 weeks.

The council should provide you with updates on your complaint, including when it may take longer to respond.

If your complaint is not making any progress, you can follow our top tips for making a complaint to find out what is happening.

If you complained more than 16 weeks ago, and you have not received a final response, we may be able to make enquiries about what is happening to your complaint. You should have tried to ask the council what is happening before contacting us about any delay.

If the council has sent you a final response (usually saying something like ‘this is our final response’) and you are unhappy with the outcome, you can complain to us.

You should normally make your complaint to us within 12 months of realising that the council has done something wrong.

If you can consider my complaint what will the Ombudsman look for?

We consider whether the council has done something wrong in the way it dealt with the sale or disposal of its assets and whether this has affected you adversely. Some of the issues we might look at include if the council:

  • goes back on its agreement to sell or lease land or property it owns
  • gives you misleading or inaccurate information about the land or buildings that it is selling or disposing of
  • fails to carry out any necessary consultation with those affected by the sale
  • delays unreasonably disposing of derelict property, or
  • fails to follow its procedures, or has no procedures, for the disposal of land.

What happens if the Ombudsman finds that the council was at fault?

It depends on what went wrong and how that affected you. If we find that something has gone wrong, we can ask the council to:

  • act to put the matter right
  • remedy any financial loss, or
  • review or improve its procedures to make sure the same problems do not happen in future.

Examples of some complaints we have considered

Mr X complained the council delayed arranging to sell some of its land to him after he offered to buy it for his business. The council agreed to start discussions with him about a possible sale. This involved consulting several teams within the council, including the planning team. The council set out the price it wanted, and following negotiations, reduced it and set out terms of the sale. Mr X proposed changes to them. The council ended negotiations as it decided it was not possible to reach an agreement. The Ombudsman found no fault with the process, despite the significant time taken. Negotiations were complex, dealt with a legal agreement from more than 30 years ago, and involved significant disputes about possible terms of sale.
Miss C complained about the council agreeing to exclusively offer to sell her some land near her home for a period of three months once she paid the fee needed for it to value the land. After carrying out the valuation, the council offered to sell it to her. There followed delays with the process. After three months had passed since the valuation, the council received a higher offer from a neighbour. It gave Miss C the chance to increase her bid, which she did. The council accepted it. Later, she sent a revised offer as she believed the size of the land had changed. The council rejected it. The Ombudsman found while it was for the courts to decide the issue of the agreement’s enforceability, the council had raised her expectations about the sale and there were delays with the process, both of which caused her injustice. The council agreed to make a symbolic payment of £200 to remedy the injustice caused.

Our fact sheets give some general information about the most common type of complaints we receive but they cannot cover every situation. If you are not sure whether we can look into your complaint, please contact us.

We provide a free, independent and impartial service. We consider complaints about the administrative actions of councils and some other authorities. We cannot question what a council has done simply because someone does not agree with it. If we find something has gone wrong, such as poor service, service failure, delay or bad advice and that a person has suffered as a result we aim to get it put right by recommending a suitable remedy.

September 2025

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